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Carl Hooper

Carl Hooper
Personal information
Full name Carl Llewellyn Hooper
Born (1966-12-15) 15 December 1966 (age 50)
Georgetown, Guyana
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right arm off break
Role All-rounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 190) 11 December 1987 v India
Last Test 3 November 2002 v India
ODI debut (cap 50) 18 March 1987 v New Zealand
Last ODI 4 March 2003 v Kenya
ODI shirt no. 4
Domestic team information
Years Team
2003–2004 Lancashire
1984–2003 Guyana
1992–1998 Kent
1983–1987 Demerara
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODI FC LA
Matches 102 227 339 457
Runs scored 5,762 5,761 23,034 13,357
Batting average 36.46 35.34 47.68 40.11
100s/50s 13/27 7/29 69/104 15/85
Top score 233 113* 236* 145
Balls bowled 13,794 9,573 46,464 19,718
Wickets 114 193 555 396
Bowling average 49.42 36.05 35.30 34.37
5 wickets in innings 4 0 18 1
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 5/26 4/34 7/93 5/41
Catches/stumpings 115/– 120/– 375/– 242/–
Source: Cricinfo, 29 December 2008

Carl Llewellyn Hooper (born 15 December 1966) is a former West Indian cricket player and captain.

He was a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, who came to prominence in the late 1980s in a side that included such players as Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh and represented the West Indies over a 15-year international career.

His highest innings score of 233 was made during a Test match against India in 2002 at Bourda, Gyuyana. He has made 5,762 runs in his Test cricket career. Hooper represented Guyana at local first-class level, and played English county cricket for Kent and Lancashire. In 2003, Hooper became only the second player to have scored a century against all 18 county teams.

Hooper holds the accolade of being the first cricketer in the world to have scored 5,000 runs, taken 100 wickets, held 100 catches and received 100 caps in both ODIs and Tests, a feat only matched since by Jacques Kallis. In his autobiography, Steve Waugh writes that "quickness of feet and sweet yet brutally efficient stroke play were Hooper's trademarks." He was routinely prematurely dismissed, however, after losses in concentration.

Shane Warne also thought very highly of Hooper's footwork and, in 2008, named him among the top 100 cricketers of his time, citing in particular his ability to disguise his dances down the track. Warne felt that determining when a batsman was going to give the charge was one of the most important things for a spinner, and that Hooper was the best at making it indeterminable. "During the 1995 series," he wrote, "this really nagged away at me, because I couldn't spot any of the usual clues even though I knew there had to be a sign that would give him away. On a number of occasions, I stopped at the point of delivery to see if he was giving anything away with his footwork. Most batsmen would be looking to get out of their ground at that point, whereas Hooper just stayed set. In the end, after watching him closely time after time, I managed to crack it. When he wanted to hit over the top, he just looked at me instead of tapping his crease as usual and looking down. Of course, my knowing what he was going to do did not always stop him from doing it."


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Wikipedia

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